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Norway's crown princess minded surrogate children

Published on NewsOK
Modified: December 3, 2012 at 10:32 am •
Published: December 3, 2012

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OSLO, Norway (AP) — When friends of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit couldn't travel to India to welcome their surrogate twins into the world, the royal stepped up, minding the couple's newborns for three days and even being mistaken by hospital staff for a nanny.

FILE- Norwegian Crown Pricess Mette-Marit and her husband Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, right, wave to the waiting crowd in Stralsund, northern Germany, in this file photo dated Saturday, June 12, 2010. When friends of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit couldn't travel to India to welcome their surrogate twins into the world, Crown Princess Mette-Marit stepped in and flew to India to look after the twins until the two fathers could fly out, according to Royal Court spokeswoman Marianne Hagen on Monday Dec. 3, 2012, minding the couple's newly born children and being mistaken by hospital staff for a nanny. The princess flew to Delhi on Oct. 23, 2012, after visa problems prevented the children's Norwegian parents from arriving at the hospital in time for the birth.(AP Photo/ddp/Michael Urban, File)

In a statement from the Royal Court, the princess described how she had flown to New Delhi on Oct. 23 after visa problems prevented the children's Norwegian parents — a same-sex couple — from arriving at the hospital in time for the birth.

"There are times in life when one finds oneself in a complex situation where there are few or no good solutions," she wrote.

"For me the core of the matter was that there were two newborn babies who lay alone in a hospital in Delhi. I was the one who was able to travel. It was important to me to help in any way I could."

She stayed to mind the babies until relatives — and eventually also the two fathers — could get to the hospital.

One of the men is an employee of the royal household and a good friend of Mette-Marit's. The twins arrived in Norway last week. Hagen did not identify the couple or give the genders of the babies.

The court said the travel was paid out of the princess' private funds.